Prof. Dr. Akhtar Hussain, MD, M.Phil, MPH, Ph.D., D.Sc., a Bangladeshi great scientist, has expired on July 1, 2024, in Brazil (at the time of delivering his speech). He was living in Norway.

Prof. Hussain graduated in medicine from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and then received postgraduation and doctoral degrees in Boston (USA) and Bergen and Oslo (Norway).

Prof. Hussain was the key person for the NOMA grant, which was for the students of Bangladesh Institute of Health Sciences (BIHS), Bangladesh. Under his direct supervision and funding, many of our colleagues completed their MPhil and PhD degrees.

He was the first Bangladeshi to be elected president of the International Diabetes Federation. He has worked actively with diabetes for the past 25 years and was currently a professor at NORD University with a focus on diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Previously, he was Professor of Global Health at the University of Oslo (2006–17).

Prof. Hussain had been involved in a number of diabetes research programs and organizations in a number of countries around the world. He had, for example, started a collaboration for type 2 diabetes research with Oslo as coordinator with 21 academic partners from Europe, Asia and Africa.

He had been serving as president of the Diabetes in Asia Study Group (DASG) and co-editor of the Journal of Diabetology.

He had been associated with the IDF since 2008, through the Bridges program as a reviewer and co-chair, and finally as Vice President (2013–2015 and 2016–2017). He held the positions of Chair of the Consultative Section of Science and Member of the Finance Committee.

He was honored and delighted to be a part of the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh since 1998, as a life member. He was involved in the Distance Learning Program (DLP) for General Practitioners and as a founding member of the Global Health Centre for Research, he developed the first master’s program in diabetes and other NCDs in Asia. He had several EU funded projects with Master and Ph.D. students trained in Norway by the DAB. Diabetic Association of Bangladesh is also “the proposer of the UN resolution on diabetes 61/225”.

He was a member of the Norwegian Diabetes Association. He served as an executive member of the Medical Advisory Body for six years at the Norwegian Diabetes Association and also involved in the program: “Migrants and Diabetes.”